Teen, dad start charity that's raised $80,000 for Haiti students

Cramming for her exams with the TV turned off this January, Kaley Shannon didn't find out about the Haiti earthquake for three days.

But with help from her friends, the 15-year-old Lyons Township High School freshman has more than made up for lost time.

In less than three months, the Students Hearts for Haiti charity she set up with her dad, Dan, to sell cookies has raised a remarkable $80,000 to help rebuild schools in the devastated Caribbean nation.

"When I saw that not just homes but also schools had fallen to the ground, I had to do something," Kaley said.

"If there's no schools, people won't have opportunities to recover."

With the help of friends in the youth group at Western Springs Baptist Church, she baked 2,000 heart-shaped sugar cookies in an afternoon and sold them at Metra stations and downtown, raising $3,200 on the first day.

Their efforts have since expanded to include selling T-shirts, wristbands and other items at a dozen west suburban schools, and to accepting donations at www.studentsheartsforhaiti.org.

With matching funds from the Moyer Foundation and the Woodland Public Charity, they hope to raise $90,000 for the Free The Children project -- enough to build a three-room school with teachers, desks, fresh water and a mobile clinic, and to fund job creation.

"I had no idea how many people would get involved," Kaley said. "Everybody is asking to help out -- even kids who don't normally talk much, or who I don't know."

She hopes to visit Haiti with her father this summer, she said.

"Serving others is in Kaley's heart," her father added.

Photo: John J. Kim, Sun-Times / Kaley Shannon folds T-shirts for sale to raise money for Students Hearts for Haiti, a fund-raising effort she began with her father at Lyons Township High School in La Grange. Photo: John J. Kim, Sun-Times / Kaley Shannon sells T-shirts and wristbands to raise money for Haitian students.